The Lady of Winter
by Artemis1000
Summary: I have a lord husband, the Lady of Winterfell would say, and I remain faithful to him. He may be gone, but he remains at her side in the cold winds that blow through Winterfell's hallways and in the frost that covers her bed. When winter comes, they will be reunited.


Notes: Written for Spook Me! to "ghosts."

 **The Lady of Winter**

Once upon a time, there was a lady with hair as red as blood. They whispered it was as red as the blood she had bled for her house.

She was known far and wide as a great and fine lady, ruler of the noblest of northern houses in these days when the White Walkers returned to walk among us and the Dragon Queen had gone to war against them.

Noblemen from seven kingdoms and beyond came to court her, but she denied them all. Knights wished to pledge their swords to her, but she turned them away with the kind, but firm refusal that to try and win her heart with noble deeds would be folly.

 _I have a lord husband_ , the lady would say, _and I remain faithful to him_.

The northern lords whispered and frowned, for the lady's husband had been nothing but cruel to her in life.

 _Not him_ , she would say, _my lord husband is still at my side_.

The northern ladies tittered and shook their heads, for she must speak of the southern halfling she had once been wed to, years ago.

 _Not him_ , she would say, _can't you see that I'm wearing my lord husband's cloak?_

They did not see, for the cloak she wore bore nothing but her own house's direwolf.

The years passed, and the lady's lands prospered in the long years of spring and summer. _I was born in summer_ , she would say and her smile would turn wistful, _but I miss winter, you see, for my lord husband is King of Winter and when winter returns, so will he._

The lords and ladies did not see, for the last King of Winter had died in battle so far north that the people who lived there called them southerners.

The lords and ladies did not see, but the lady's maids knew better. Late at night, they would whisper of the blue winter roses that appeared in their lady's chambers though all doors were locked, and of finding her bed covered in frost in the mornings. The lady was not alarmed, and soon enough neither were they.

Sometimes at night the mournful howls of a wolf would echo through the keep. They left a chill in the hearts of its people, but they were northern people and did not fear the cold.

There were others who learned to fear it.

The southern lordling who would not leave when the lady bid him to and was found frozen in his bed in a mild summer night.

The traitorous bannermen who marched for her keep and found their horses slaughtered by what must have been a truly monstrous wolf, long before they ever reached its walls.

Every summer must end, and fall came with cold northern winds and snow that would no longer melt on the ground.

 _I must hurry, for soon I will join my lord husband_ , the lady said, and became more industrious than ever before.

The frost on her bed was joined by snowflakes. Here, like outside, the snow didn't melt anymore.

Oftentimes now a thin layer of ice crept along the walls of her chambers and the lady felt cold to the touch even when she sat right by the fire, but winter never seemed to bother her.

Some whispered that she rejoiced in the cold. She called her bannermen to renew their vows of fealty to her _and to my sister who will take my place when I am gone, and will always have my protection_.

The lords could not explain it, but winter took all of those who thought to defy her, even if they had never spoken of their traitorous thoughts. Some were taken by sickness, but the worst of them walked out into the winter storms till they could walk no more, and nobody could ever explain why they had gone.

The lady only smiled. _Winter comes for all of us_ , she said.

In the end, winter came for her.

On the morning of the coldest day of winter, the maids found her bed untouched, the windows wide open and snow covering every surface.

They searched the keep and the grounds, till they reached the Godswood.

There they found the lady by the tree, a direwolf wedding cloak around her shoulders, her body cold and her lips blue with frost.

Later, the ones who found her would say they found her smiling.


End file.
